The Best Places for a Happy Urban Work Life (and Where Not to Go)

Aachen and Prague remain in the top 3 of the Urban Work Life Index, while Athens and Rome still rank at the bottom. But there are some bigger changes across the index that deserve a closer look.

The German city of Aachen (1st) manages to defend its top spot in the Urban Work Life Index.
Prague (2nd) places in the top 3 of the index for the third year in a row.
Ho Chi Minh City (3rd) is popular for its job satisfaction and working hours.
Rome (82nd) once again ranks last in the Urban Work Life Index.
Despite modest economic growth, Athens (81st) does not make it out of the bottom 3, where it is joined by Istanbul.
Montréal (10th) does much better compared to 2018, while Vancouver (57th) has experienced a significant drop.
Expats in Manama (58th) are unhappy with their working hours, while Doha (25th) impresses survey respondents with the state of its economy.

The Top 15

Urban Work Life Index 2019 — league table top 15

Methodology

In 2019, 82 cities placed in the Expat Insider City Ranking, each with a minimum sample size of 50 respondents. The Urban Work Life Index includes three subcategories — Job & Career, Job Security, and Work-Life Balance. Each subcategory is calculated based on the responses to two factors: overall job satisfaction and local career opportunities, job security and the state of the local economy, working hours and work-life balance.

Aachen: The German City at the Top

For the second year in a row, Aachen ranks first in the Urban Work Life Index. The overall job satisfaction is quite high in the city: 88% of the survey respondents are generally happy with this factor (vs. 64% globally). Aachen has also further improved when it comes to the local career opportunities — 72% rate this factor positively, compared to 56% in 2018. One expat from India likes “the opportunities provided with regards to my field of work” there, and another survey respondent from the same country agrees that there are “lots of opportunities if the language is not a barrier”.

The working conditions are very good.

A vast majority of expats in Aachen (92%) also rate the state of the local economy positively (vs. 66% globally), and three in ten survey respondents (30%) are very happy with their job security (vs. 21% globally). When it come to the work-life balance, Aachen is also rather popular: 83% are happy with this factor, and 41% are very satisfied with their working hours (vs. a global 60% and 24%, respectively). “The work-life balance is a huge bonus,” according to a Russian survey respondent, and an expat from Spain agrees that “with vacations, flexitime, and recognition, the working conditions are very good” in Aachen.

Prague: The Place to Go for a Great Work-Life Balance

Placing in the top 3 of the index for the third year in a row, Prague is one of the top destinations for a great work life. Over a third of the respondents in Prague (35%) give the local career opportunities the highest possible rating (vs. 15% globally), and more than seven in ten (72%) are generally happy with their job (vs. 64% globally). The state of the local economy is regarded positively by 86%, 20 percentage points more than the global average of 66%, and 71% appreciate their job security (vs. 59% globally).

There’s a very positive work-life balance.

The Czech Republic is among the ten countries with the lowest Bloomberg Misery Index score in the 2019 forecast, attesting to its strong economy and low unemployment rate. Moreover, close to three-quarters of expats in Prague (74%) are happy with their working hours (vs. 62% globally). “There’s a very positive work-life balance, with a lot happening in both domains,” according to an Australian expat in the city. Others seem to agree, as the work-life balance receives a positive rating from 70% of survey respondents in the city, ten percentage points above the worldwide average (60%).

Ho Chi Minh City: Plenty of Career Opportunities

Ho Cho Minh City, the third destination in the top 3, is particularly popular for its working hours — more than one-third of expats in the Vietnamese city (34%) are very happy with their working hours (vs. 24% globally), and 71% generally appreciate their work-life balance (vs. 60% globally). “It is easy to deal and work with Vietnamese people,” an expat from the Philippines says about her work life in Ho Chi Minh City.

It is easy to deal and work with Vietnamese people.

Respondents also appreciate the local career opportunities, with 68% rating this factor positively (vs. 51% globally). Moreover, three in ten expats in Ho Chi Minh City (30%) are completely satisfied with their job in 2019, compared to 18% globally. The job security is also high according to survey respondents in Ho Chi Minh City — 75% are happy with this factor (vs. 59% globally), and over four in five respondents (81%) rate the state of the local economy positively (vs. 66% globally).

Rome: Career Opportunities Are Hard to Find

Much like in 2018, Rome finds itself at the very bottom of the Urban Work Life Index in 2019, ranking 82nd. Survey respondents in the Italian capital are generally unhappy with the local career opportunities — 67% say as much compared to 27% of expats worldwide — and 62% rate the state of the local economy negatively (vs. 15% globally). One Czech expat in Rome lists the “impossibility of professional growth, underpayment, nepotism, bureaucracy, and the general state of the infrastructure” as negatives of working in the city.

The Italian economy has been struggling for several years now and Italy is among the European countries with the most significant debt. However, according to Reuters, the country has been doing slightly better in the first quarter of 2019, showing a drop in unemployment rates. That being said, more than one-quarter of respondents in Rome (26%) are very displeased with the job security (vs. 7% globally). The results look slightly better when it comes to expats’ work-life balance: 46% rate this factor positively, compared to 25% negative responses, and, although more than three in ten expats in Rome (31%) are unhappy with their working hours, 46% at least rate this factor positively.

Athens: Modest Growth but Unstable Job Security

After years of being in crisis, Greece’s capital still doesn’t raise high hopes when it comes to the state of the local economy — 68% of survey respondents in Athens are unhappy with this factor (vs. 15% globally), and almost one in three (29%) are very unsatisfied with the local career opportunities (vs. 8% globally). “It is difficult to find well-paid employment,” says one survey respondent from Germany, and a Russian expat in Athens sums up the current state as “bad economic situation, bad education, bad career opportunities!” Although Greece in general (and Athens in particular) are still facing big economic challenges, and the capital ranks second to last in the Urban Work Life Index (81st), there is reason for optimism: the economy is showing small growth and a humble decrease of unemployment.

It is difficult to find well-paid employment.

While 55% of expats in Athens are overall satisfied with their jobs (vs. 64% globally), 40% worry about the job security, nearly double the global average of 21%. On the other hand, survey respondents in Athens don’t feel quite as negatively about their work-life balance: 46% rate their working hours positively, compared to “only” 17% of negative responses, and almost half (49%) are generally happy with their work-life balance. The latter result is still some way off the global average of 60% positive responses, though.

Istanbul: The Local Economy Is a Reason for Concern

In 2019, Turkey’s most populous city continues with an 80th rank out of 82 cities its negative track record of previous years in the Urban Work Life Index, remaining in the bottom 10. Although half of the survey respondents in Istanbul (50%) generally rate their overall job satisfaction positively, this is still 14 percentage points below the global average (64%), and 36% are unhappy with the career opportunities in the city (vs. 27% globally). “It’s not easy finding a job here, despite good qualifications,” says one respondent from Serbia. According to forecasts, the country’s economy is expected to contract in 2019, partly due to the political situation in Turkey.

Salaries are low, and there’s no time for yourself — I’m always working.

But while 56% of expats in Istanbul are not satisfied with local economy (vs. 15% globally), 53% are generally happy with their job security, which is close to the global average of 59%. However, more than one in six (18%) are very unsatisfied with their working hours (vs. 5% globally), and the work-life balance is a reason for concern for 35% of the survey respondents in Istanbul (vs. 21% globally). “Salaries are low, and there’s no time for yourself — I’m always working,” an Albanian expat in Istanbul points out.

The Biggest Changes across the Index

Going from a 43rd place out of 72 cities in 2018 to rank 10th in 2019, Montréal has improved across all factors in the Urban Work Life Index, but particularly in the Job & Career subcategory. In fact, 73% of the survey respondents in Montréal give the overall job satisfaction a positive rating, and 65% are happy with the local career opportunities, compared to 55% and 53% in 2018. “I've grown as a professional and as a person,” says one expat from the Dominican Republic.

Things look quite differently for a fellow Canadian city on the other side of the continent, Vancouver. The city has experienced a significant change across all factors in the index, falling from a 10th place in 2018 to rank 57th in 2019. In the Job & Career subcategory in particular, the city has dropped 56 ranks compared to 2018, and it fell from the top 10 to the bottom 10 for overall job satisfaction — 23% of the survey respondents in Vancouver are unhappy with this factor, compared to only 8% in 2018. A survey respondent from South Africa is struggling with the “inability to find work in Vancouver. There is a very strong ‘Old Boys Network’ and you can only find work if you are recommended by someone they know and respect. It's all about who you know instead of what you know.”

Barcelona, one of Spain’s most popular expat destinations, shows improvements across almost all factors of the index. Although the city occupies a mediocre 42nd rank in the Urban Work Life Index, expats in Barcelona are generally happy with their job security — 58% say as much, compared to 50% in 2018 — and 64% rate the state of the local economy positively, a 20-percentage-point increase from 2018 (44%). The local career opportunities are a selling point for 57% of survey respondents in Barcelona in 2019, while only 41% were happy with this factor in 2018.

For Cape Town, the change has not been quite as positive. More than half the survey respondents in the city (51%) rate the state of the local economy negatively, 22 percentage points more than in 2018 and compared to just 15% of expats worldwide. A British expat in the city names the “security, economic situation, and political situation” as negative aspects of life in Cape Town. Moreover, 21% are unhappy with their working hours, and 18% believe that the work-life balance in Cape Town leaves a lot to be desired, compared to 17% and 9% in 2018. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) addressed this very issue in February 2019 by calling for a reduction from 45 to 40 working hours per week. This, according to Cosatu, could help reduce unemployment, as well as improve the health of workers and allow them more time to spend with their families.

In the Middle East, Doha impresses expats with the state of its local economy — 43% give this factor the best rating possible, compared to 30% in 2018. An expat from the UK describes the country as “economically stabilized and safe”. Qatar’s capital has also improved by eight percentage points for its job security: in 2019, 55% rate this factor positively. “The potential for excelling in work is there,” says a survey respondent from Greece, “as long as the local economy gets a boost.”

Manama, on the other hand, is with a 58th rank out of 82 cities doing significantly worse in the Urban Work Life Index than in 2017 (12th out of 51) or 2018 (13th out of 72), although the city performs well in other indices. Nearly one in five survey respondents in Manama (19%) are unhappy with their work-life balance in the city, and 16% rate the working hours negatively — in 2018, only 2% and 5% said the same. The city also shows big changes in the overall job satisfaction: with a share of 16%, expats in Manama are twice as likely to be unhappy with this factor than in 2018 (8%). An expat from Zimbabwe is particularly unhappy with the “lack of high paying job opportunities” in the city.